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bigmacbear) wrote2021-08-22 11:59 pm
bigmacbear) wrote2021-08-22 11:59 pm
Cincinnati Trip, Day Four
MONDAY, August 22
I woke up about quarter after five to pee, and again just before seven so I turned off my alarm set for 7:30. Gary woke up just after eight as I finished showering and dressing for the day. We went downstairs for breakfast around nine. At breakfast I suggested we visit Mount Airy Forest on the west side of Cincinnati. Since Gary hadn't packed sneakers, we decided to visit the Skechers store at the nearby outlet mall in Monroe. The mall didn't open till 11 so we returned to the room to wait and watch Let's Make a Deal.
We left just after 11 for the outlet mall. I-75 was a little scary with a mix of too many 18-wheelers and too many cars jockeying for position around them with unsafe lane changes. Gary found a good pair of brown walking shoes and a pair of black casual slip-ons. I tried on some water shoes but they didn't have any in my size. After making the purchase, we stopped by the food court (built to resemble the historic Union Terminal) for lunch at Charley's Philly Steaks. They only had two people working so the tall, scruffy youth behind the counter had to divide his time between the counter and the kitchen. I had the Fiesta cheesesteak and Gary had the Philly chicken. On the way out we stopped by the Lids store (it appeared there were two in the same mall, but this was on our way) to see if they had any hockey hats. They didn't, but I found an Ohio State cap in charcoal gray and purchased it.
We decided to return to the hotel so Gary could change socks and shoes and relax before we attempted any walking in the forest. There was an old episode of Jeopardy on the TV so we watched the last half of the show. I texted Colleen to make plans for the evening as Gary nodded off on the couch and eventually got up to nap in bed. With arrangements made, I changed into my swimsuit and headed for the pool. No one else was there. I did my five laps face down and five face up, then had an extended float on my back before lounging poolside to air dry and surf the net. After a while I was getting a bit overheated so I hopped in the water once again, did a couple more lazy laps and a brief float, then air dried thoroughly. While I was there, a large dump truck rather cleverly backed up into a space in the extreme corner of the parking lot so cars and other trucks could still get around. Also, a lean young black dude came to stock more towels. Once I was dry I returned to the room and turned the news on with the sound low and the captions on until Gary woke up. James texted me and we made arrangements to meet for dinner Taco Tuesday at Agave and Rye in Covington at 6:30. By then it was six and time to prepare to leave for Colleen's.
When we arrived at Colleen's, she and Rab were busy cooking so we sat in the family room and watched the parade of photos on the networked digital picture frame. Soon Sheila arrived and dinner was ready. We had a curious dish of chicken Marsala with a chicken tikka masala spice packet added, poured over egg noodles and served with curried cauliflower and garlic naan. It was wonderful. Sheila brought a blueberry crumble and vanilla ice cream. Kate arrived as we were finishing dinner and we all chatted for hours until Sheila had to leave about quarter after 11. We went down to the basement and looked over the stacks of memorabilia. I suggested we look into giving Kevin and David's yearbooks back to the Elder Alumni Association if they needed more copies of those years, as they would be expensive to ship to Washington state. We took a couple pairs of Dad's shoes, a bag of special socks, and the sign for Dave's bar back to the hotel with us, after arranging to return after noon tomorrow to dig deeper. We reached the hotel after midnight and took care of various loose ends until about one AM.
I woke up about quarter after five to pee, and again just before seven so I turned off my alarm set for 7:30. Gary woke up just after eight as I finished showering and dressing for the day. We went downstairs for breakfast around nine. At breakfast I suggested we visit Mount Airy Forest on the west side of Cincinnati. Since Gary hadn't packed sneakers, we decided to visit the Skechers store at the nearby outlet mall in Monroe. The mall didn't open till 11 so we returned to the room to wait and watch Let's Make a Deal.
We left just after 11 for the outlet mall. I-75 was a little scary with a mix of too many 18-wheelers and too many cars jockeying for position around them with unsafe lane changes. Gary found a good pair of brown walking shoes and a pair of black casual slip-ons. I tried on some water shoes but they didn't have any in my size. After making the purchase, we stopped by the food court (built to resemble the historic Union Terminal) for lunch at Charley's Philly Steaks. They only had two people working so the tall, scruffy youth behind the counter had to divide his time between the counter and the kitchen. I had the Fiesta cheesesteak and Gary had the Philly chicken. On the way out we stopped by the Lids store (it appeared there were two in the same mall, but this was on our way) to see if they had any hockey hats. They didn't, but I found an Ohio State cap in charcoal gray and purchased it.
We decided to return to the hotel so Gary could change socks and shoes and relax before we attempted any walking in the forest. There was an old episode of Jeopardy on the TV so we watched the last half of the show. I texted Colleen to make plans for the evening as Gary nodded off on the couch and eventually got up to nap in bed. With arrangements made, I changed into my swimsuit and headed for the pool. No one else was there. I did my five laps face down and five face up, then had an extended float on my back before lounging poolside to air dry and surf the net. After a while I was getting a bit overheated so I hopped in the water once again, did a couple more lazy laps and a brief float, then air dried thoroughly. While I was there, a large dump truck rather cleverly backed up into a space in the extreme corner of the parking lot so cars and other trucks could still get around. Also, a lean young black dude came to stock more towels. Once I was dry I returned to the room and turned the news on with the sound low and the captions on until Gary woke up. James texted me and we made arrangements to meet for dinner Taco Tuesday at Agave and Rye in Covington at 6:30. By then it was six and time to prepare to leave for Colleen's.
When we arrived at Colleen's, she and Rab were busy cooking so we sat in the family room and watched the parade of photos on the networked digital picture frame. Soon Sheila arrived and dinner was ready. We had a curious dish of chicken Marsala with a chicken tikka masala spice packet added, poured over egg noodles and served with curried cauliflower and garlic naan. It was wonderful. Sheila brought a blueberry crumble and vanilla ice cream. Kate arrived as we were finishing dinner and we all chatted for hours until Sheila had to leave about quarter after 11. We went down to the basement and looked over the stacks of memorabilia. I suggested we look into giving Kevin and David's yearbooks back to the Elder Alumni Association if they needed more copies of those years, as they would be expensive to ship to Washington state. We took a couple pairs of Dad's shoes, a bag of special socks, and the sign for Dave's bar back to the hotel with us, after arranging to return after noon tomorrow to dig deeper. We reached the hotel after midnight and took care of various loose ends until about one AM.